By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. While we can learn a lot about the filmmakers from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival through the art that these storytellers share with us, there’s always more we can learn about them as people. We decided to get to the bottom of those artistic wells with our ongoing series: Give Me the Backstory!
Cherien Dabis’ advice for filmmakers isn’t only essential for those looking to improve their craft, it should be a universal mindset for all. “Have a plan, but be ready to throw it out and improvise if your intuition tells you that it’s not working,” she says. “Even if you’re many takes into a shot. Magic can happen when we’re willing to trust our instincts, embrace uncertainty, and be spontaneous in the moment.”
The multi-Sundance Festival alum followed her own mantra and embraced the pivot in more ways than one when making All That’s Left of You (اللي باقي منك). The film, which finds Dabis in front of the camera as well as behind in the writer-director role, thoughtfully follows the personal history of a Palestinian family through three generations of grief, love, trauma, and endurance. In working with her cast, Dabis adapted dialogue and scenes to feel more true to the moment, bringing the sense of love and ownership to the full team for the project. Her whole production also took on the “be ready to throw it out” mindset when they had to evacuate Palestine on October 7, 2023, right before the beginning of the shoot.
“My creative team and I became family during the making of this film,” she recalls. “Some of us spent nearly 17 months working together. We traveled from country to country — Palestine to Cyprus to Jordan then Greece. The movie became a container for our outrage, grief and compassion. It was a gift to be able to create during a time of such unbelievable destruction.”
All That’s Left of You (اللي باقي منك) debuts in the Premieres section at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Below read more about Dabis’ journey to filmmaking, her history with Sundance Institute, and why this story needs to be told now.
Tell us why and how you got into filmmaking?
From a young age, I was enamored with film and television and knew I wanted to be an actress. But it was the first Gulf War that made me acutely aware of the importance of storytelling. My Palestinian Jordanian immigrant family was so egregiously discriminated against in the small town in Ohio where I grew up that not only did we receive death threats on a daily basis, but the Secret Service came to my high school to investigate a rumor that my 17-year-old sister had threatened to kill the president. At the age of 14, I was forced to ask myself why our friends and neighbors would so suddenly and swiftly turn on us. What on Earth made them think that we were somehow a threat? That’s when I discovered the power of film and television.
I began to study the ways in which Arabs were dangerously misrepresented, portrayed as villains, terrorists and jihadists — and that’s if we were represented at all. There was a complete dearth of any remotely authentic portrayal. I vowed to change that. My intimate, formative experience of the consequences of careless and harmful portrayals of communities like my own drove me to pursue filmmaking.
Tell us about your history with Sundance Institute. When was the first time you engaged with us? Why did you want your film to premiere with us?
My first Sundance was with my 2006 short film Make a Wish, which I shot entirely in Palestine and which launched my career. I had heard so much about the Festival when I was in film school and was absolutely thrilled to be invited. It was incredibly exciting and confidence-boosting. The endorsement of one of the best festivals in the world helped me raise money for my first feature Amreeka, which also world-premiered at Sundance in 2009.
Which of your personal characteristics contributes most to your success as a storyteller?
My writing professor at Columbia would say my “dogged determination.” That definitely applies.. But I feel the real reason is my commitment to and passion for representing the under-and-misrepresented, especially my own community. It’s what keeps me doggedly determined despite challenges and obstacles that inevitably arise.
Films are lasting artistic legacies, what do you want yours to say?
I want people to recognize themselves in my characters. I want them to witness the decades of struggle that Palestinians have patiently endured. I want the film to inspire love and compassion and to say that holding onto our humanity is the only way forward.
What was the biggest inspiration behind this film?
The strength, resilience, and love of my people in the face of decades of unbearable loss, hardship and suffering.
Why does this story need to be told now?
The film gives much needed historical context to political events we’re currently witnessing. It tells the story of how we ended up where we are today. When I wrote it back in 2020, I had no way of knowing how incredibly relevant it would become.
Tell us an anecdote about casting or working with your actors.
I had the honor of working with so many great actors on this film, including four generations of the Bakri family — an incredibly talented family of actors from Palestine. I’ve always wanted to work with them.
We adopted a flexible way of working together where we often changed the dialogue on set if we felt it wasn’t landing right or if one of us had a better idea. It was such a fun, creative process of really working moment to moment to keep everything grounded and real.
I also had the great good fortune to work with so many beautiful Palestinian kids who blew my mind away with their talent, intelligence and sensitivity. I witnessed them become actors during the making of this film. They were practically directing themselves by the end of it. I honestly had the time of my life with all of them.
Your favorite part of making the film? Memories from the process?
Prepping in Palestine from May to October of 2023 was my favorite part. It was remarkable to be there, working with local producers, artists, and artisans to bring this particular movie to life. Everyone was so excited to realize a historic story that hadn’t ever been told, certainly not with this much scope. We traveled around refugee camps all over Palestine, meeting people and hearing their stories. We collected a warehouse full of historic relics from 1948 and started building our sets. It was amazing to bring my foreign crew to the West Bank, some for the very first time. It was one of the best experiences of my life. And though we lost all of that prep, the work we did there informed all of the prep that came later.
My creative team and I became family during the making of this film. Some of us spent nearly 17 months working together. We traveled from country to country — Palestine to Cyprus to Jordan then Greece. The movie became a container for our outrage, grief and compassion. It was a gift to be able to create during a time of such unbelievable destruction.
What was a big challenge you faced while making this film?
Well, we prepped the entire film in Palestine then were forced to evacuate after October 7. We were only two weeks away from principal photography. Evacuating meant that we lost months of work and the financing that went into all that prep. We lost all of our locations. We lost a few cast members who dropped out of the film. We lost many crew members who we couldn’t take with us. We had to figure out how to get our remaining cast and crew as well as props and set dressing and wardrobe out of Palestine. The film entered a total financial and logistical crisis, as we scrambled to keep going. We had to raise more money. We had to find new shooting locations. We had to add many months more prep. We had to re-prep the film entirely. Then on top of making the film, we were witnessing the destruction of part of our homeland and our people. It was emotionally gut-wrenching, by far the greatest artistic and in some ways personal challenge of my life.
Who are your creative heroes?
The fearless people of this world. From the doctors in Gaza who are risking their lives to save lives to artists and activists like Nan Goldin who continually use their platforms to speak truth to power.
What three things do you always have in your refrigerator?
Olives from Palestine, unsweetened coconut milk, and, let’s be real, take-out leftovers.
One thing people don’t know about me is _____
I’m a Buddhist practitioner. I’ve been practicing meditation and studying Buddhism with a teacher in New York for over a decade, and it has changed my life.
Why is filmmaking important to you? Why is it important to the world?
Cinema speaks the language of emotion. It’s universal. You can sit in a movie theater and be transported to a place you’d never otherwise go and meet people you’d never otherwise meet. Great films can inspire profound empathy, change the way we think about something and spark healing. I truly believe that. In a world where narratives shape our reality and mainstream media dehumanizes and vilifies us, filmmaking is more than an art form, it’s a matter of survival. It’s a preservation of history. A resistance to erasure.
